Chard, like other green leafy vegetables, has highly nutritious leaves, making it a popular component of healthy diets.[3] Chard has been used in cooking for centuries, but because of its similarity to beets and vegetables like cardoon, the common names that cooks and cultures have used for chard may be confusing.[4]

The origin of the adjective "Swiss" is unclear, since the Mediterranean plant is not native to Switzerland. Some attribute the name to it having been first described by a Swiss botanist, either Gaspard Bauhin[12] or Karl Heinrich Emil Koch[13] (although the latter was German, not Swiss).

Chard is a biennial. Clusters of chard seeds are usually sown, in the Northern Hemisphere, between June and October, depending on the desired harvesting period. Chard can be harvested while the leaves are young and tender, or after maturity when they are larger and have slightly tougher stems. Harvesting is a continuous process, as most species of chard produce three or more crops.[14] Raw chard is extremely perishable.

Cultivars of chard include green forms, such as 'Lucullus' and 'Fordhook Giant', as well as red-ribbed forms such as 'Ruby Chard' and 'Rhubarb Chard'.[2] The red-ribbed forms are attractive in the garden, but as a general rule, the older green forms tend to outproduce the colorful hybrids. 'Rainbow Chard' is a mix of other colored varieties that is often mistaken for a variety unto itself.[2]

Chard has shiny, green, ribbed leaves, with petioles that range from white to yellow to red, depending on the cultivar.[2]

Chard is a spring harvest plant. In the Northern Hemisphere, chard is typically ready to harvest as early as April and lasts through May. Chard is one of the hardier leafy greens, with a harvest season typically lasting longer than kale, spinach or baby greens. When daytime temperatures start to regularly hit 30 °C (86 °F), the harvest season is coming to an end.

Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked (like in pizzoccheri) or sautéed; the bitterness fades with cooking, leaving a refined flavor which is more delicate than that of cooked spinach.[citation needed]

1.
Silverbeet (album)
–
Silverbeet is an album released in 1993 by New Zealand band The Bats. The album was recorded from 15 November to 2 December 1992, at The Outpost in Stoughton, courage was released as a CD single that included two additional non-album tracks and a reworked version of Slow Alight. Silverbeet peaked at #26 on the New Zealand album charts, all lyrics written by Robert Scott, all music composed by The Bats/Robert Scott. Paul Kean has stated that the song Slow Alight on the album is actually named Alight From The Rear

2.
Species
–
In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is problematic, for example, with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, or in a ring species, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear. Other ways of defining species include similarity of DNA, morphology, all species are given a two-part name, a binomial. The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs, the second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet. For example, Boa constrictor is one of four species of the Boa genus, Species were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as fixed kinds that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being. In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time, Charles Darwins 1859 book The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection. Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal transfer, and species may become extinct for a variety of reasons. In his biology, Aristotle used the term γένος to mean a kind, such as a bird or fish, a kind was distinguished by its attributes, for instance, a bird has feathers, a beak, wings, a hard-shelled egg, and warm blood. A form was distinguished by being shared by all its members, Aristotle believed all kinds and forms to be distinct and unchanging. His approach remained influential until the Renaissance, when observers in the Early Modern period began to develop systems of organization for living things, they placed each kind of animal or plant into a context. Many of these early delineation schemes would now be considered whimsical, animals likewise that differ specifically preserve their distinct species permanently, one species never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa. In the 18th century, the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified organisms according to shared physical characteristics and he established the idea of a taxonomic hierarchy of classification based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. At the time, however, it was widely believed that there was no organic connection between species, no matter how similar they appeared. However, whether or not it was supposed to be fixed, by the 19th century, naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in his 1809 Zoological Philosophy, described the transmutation of species, proposing that a species could change over time, in 1859, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided a compelling account of evolution and the formation of new species. Darwin argued that it was populations that evolved, not individuals and this required a new definition of species. Darwin concluded that species are what appear to be, ideas

3.
Beta vulgaris
–
Beta vulgaris is a plant which is included in Betoideae subfamily in the Amaranthaceae family. It is the economically most important crop of the large order Caryophyllales, all cultivars fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. The wild ancestor of the cultivated beets is the sea beet, Beta vulgaris is an herbaceous biennial or, rarely, perennial plant up to 120 cm height, cultivated forms are mostly biennial. The roots of cultivated forms are dark red, white, or yellow and moderately to strongly swollen and fleshy, or brown, fibrous, sometimes swollen and woody in the wild subspecies. The stems grow erect or, in the forms, often procumbent, they are simple or branched in the upper part. The basal leaves have a long petiole, the simple leaf blade is oblanceolate to heart-shaped, dark green to dark red, slightly fleshy, usually with a prominent midrib, with entire or undulate margin, 5–20 cm long on wild plants. The upper leaves are smaller, their blades are rhombic to narrowly lanceolate, the flowers are produced in dense spike-like, basally interrupted inflorescences. Very small flowers sit in one- to three- flowered glomerules in the axils of short bracts or in the half of the inflorescence without bracts. The hermaphrodite flowers are urn-shaped, green or tinged reddish, and consist of five basally connate perianth segments, 3-5 × 2–3 mm,5 stamens, the perianths of neighbouring flowers are often fused. In fruit, the glomerules of flowers form connate hard clusters, the fruit is enclosed by the leathery and incurved perianth, and is immersed in the swollen, hardened perianth base. The horizontal seed is lenticular, 2–3 mm, with a red-brown, the seed contains an annular embryo and copious perisperm. The wild forms of Beta vulgaris are distributed in southwestern, northern and Southeast Europe along the Atlantic coasts, naturalized they occur in other continents. The plants grow at coastal cliffs, on stony and sandy beaches, in marshes or coastal grasslands. Cultivated beets are grown worldwide in regions without severe frosts and they prefer relatively cool temperatures between 15 and 19 °C, leaf beets can thrive in warmer temperatures than beetroot. As descendants of plants, they tolerate salty soils and drought. They grow best on pH-neutral to slightly alkaline soils containing plant nutrients and additionally Sodium, the species description of Beta vulgaris was made in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, at the same time creating the genus Beta. Linnaeus regarded sea beet, chard and red beet as varieties, in the second edition of Species Plantarum, Linnaeus separated the sea beet as its own species, Beta maritima, and left only the cultivated beets in Beta vulgaris. Today sea beet and cultivated beets are considered as belonging to the species, because they may hybridize

4.
Subspecies
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In biological classification, subspecies is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or a taxonomic unit in that rank. A subspecies cannot be recognized independently, a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or at least two, in zoology, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the subspecies is the only taxonomic rank below that of species that can receive a name. In botany and mycology, under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, in bacteriology and virology, under standard bacterial nomenclature and virus nomenclature, there are recommendations but not strict requirements for recognizing other important infraspecific ranks. A taxonomist decides whether to recognize a subspecies or not, the differences between subspecies are usually less distinct than the differences between species. In zoology, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature accepts only one rank below that of species, other groupings, infrasubspecific entities do not have names regulated by the ICZN. Such forms have no official ICZN status, though they may be useful in describing altitudinal or geographical clines, pet breeds, transgenic animals, etc. While the scientific name of a species is a binomen, the name of a subspecies is a trinomen - a binomen followed by a subspecific name. A tigers binomen is Panthera tigris, so for a Sumatran tiger the trinomen is, for example, names published before 1992 in the rank of variety are taken to be names of subspecies. In botany, subspecies is one of many ranks below that of species, such as variety, subvariety, form, the subspecific name is preceded by subsp. or ssp. as Schoenoplectus californicus ssp. tatora. A botanical name consists of at most three parts, an infraspecific name includes the species binomial, and one infraspecific epithet, such as subspecies or variety. For example, Motacilla alba alba is the subspecies of the white wagtail. The subspecies name that repeats the name is referred to in botanical nomenclature as the subspecies autonym. When zoologists disagree over whether a population is a subspecies or a full species. A subspecies is a rank below species – the only recognized rank in the zoological code. Botanists and mycologists have the choice of ranks lower than subspecies, such as variety or form, in biological terms, rather than in relation to nomenclature, a polytypic species has two or more subspecies, races, or more generally speaking, populations that need a separate description. These are separate groups that are distinct from one another and do not generally interbreed. These subspecies, races, or populations, can be named as subspecies by zoologists, a monotypic species has no distinct population or races, or rather one race comprising the whole species. A taxonomist would not name a subspecies within such a species, monotypic species can occur in several ways, All members of the species are very similar and cannot be sensibly divided into biologically significant subcategories

5.
Sea beet
–
The sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. Maritima, is a member of the family Amaranthaceae, previously of the Chenopodiaceae, the sea beet is native to the coasts of Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia. The sea beet is the ancestor of common vegetables such as beetroot, sugar beet. Its leaves have a pleasant texture and taste when served raw or cooked and it is a perennial plant which grows up to 1.2 m, and flowers in the summer. Its flowers are hermaphroditic, and wind-pollinated and it requires moist, well-drained soils, and does not tolerate shade. However, it is able to tolerate high levels of sodium in its environment

6.
Leaf vegetable
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Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, vegetable greens, leafy greens, or salad greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Although they come from a wide variety of plants, most share a great deal with other leaf vegetables in nutrition. Nearly one thousand species of plants with leaves are known. Leaf vegetables most often come from short-lived herbaceous plants such as lettuce, woody plants whose leaves can be eaten as leaf vegetables include Adansonia, Aralia, Moringa, Morus, and Toona species. The leaves of many crops are also edible for humans. Examples include alfalfa, clover, and most grasses, including wheat and these plants are often much more prolific than more traditional leaf vegetables, but exploitation of their rich nutrition is difficult, primarily because of their high fiber content. This obstacle can be overcome by further processing such as drying and grinding into powder or pulping and pressing for juice, Leaf vegetables contain many typical plant nutrients, but since they are photosynthetic tissues, their vitamin K levels are particularly notable. Phylloquinone, the most common form of the vitamin, is involved in photosynthesis. This causes leaf vegetables to be the primary food class that interacts significantly with the anticoagulant warfarin, Leaf vegetables are typically low in calories and fat, and high in protein per calorie, dietary fiber, vitamin C, pro-vitamin A carotenoids, folate, manganese and vitamin K. The vitamin K content of leaf vegetables is particularly high, since these are photosynthetic tissues, accordingly, users of vitamin K antagonist medications, such as warfarin, must take special care to limit consumption of leaf vegetables. If leaves are cooked for food, they may be referred to as boiled greens, Leaf vegetables may be stir-fried, stewed, steamed, or consumed raw. Leaf vegetables stewed with pork are a dish in soul food. They are also eaten in a variety of South Asian dishes such as saag. Leafy greens can be used to other ingredients into an edible package similar to how a tortilla is used. Many green leafy vegetables, such as lettuce or spinach, can also be eaten raw, a green smoothie enables large quantities of raw leafy greens to be consumed by blending the leaves with fruit and water. In certain countries of Africa, various species of amaranth are very widely eaten boiled. Celosia argentea var. argentea or Lagos spinach is one of the main boiled greens in West African cuisine, in Greek cuisine, khorta are a common side dish, eaten hot or cold and usually seasoned with olive oil and lemon. Preboggion, a mixture of different wild boiled greens, is used in Ligurian cuisine to stuff ravioli, one of the main ingredients of preboggion are borage leaves

7.
Vegetable
–
In everyday usage, a vegetable is any part of a plant that is consumed by humans as food as part of a meal. The term vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, and largely defined through culinary and it normally excludes other food derived from plants such as fruits, nuts, and cereal grains, but includes seeds such as pulses. The original meaning of the vegetable, still used in biology, was to describe all types of plant, as in the terms vegetable kingdom. At first, plants which grew locally would have been cultivated, nowadays, most vegetables are grown all over the world as climate permits, and crops may be cultivated in protected environments in less suitable locations. China is the largest producer of vegetables and global trade in agricultural products allows consumers to purchase vegetables grown in faraway countries, the scale of production varies from subsistence farmers supplying the needs of their family for food, to agribusinesses with vast acreages of single-product crops. Depending on the type of vegetable concerned, harvesting the crop is followed by grading, storing, processing, and marketing. Vegetables can be either raw or cooked and play an important role in human nutrition, being mostly low in fat and carbohydrates. Many nutritionists encourage people to consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, the word vegetable was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. It comes from Old French, and was applied to all plants. It derives from Medieval Latin vegetabilis growing, flourishing, a change from a Late Latin meaning to be enlivening, quickening. The meaning of vegetable as a plant grown for food was not established until the 18th century, in 1767, the word was specifically used to mean a plant cultivated for food, an edible herb or root. The year 1955 saw the first use of the shortened, slang term veggie, the broadest definition is the words use adjectivally to mean matter of plant origin to distinguish it from animal, meaning matter of animal origin. More specifically, a vegetable may be defined as any plant, part of which is used for food, a secondary meaning then being the edible part of such a plant. A more precise definition is any plant part consumed for food that is not a fruit or seed, falling outside these definitions are edible fungi and edible seaweed which, although not parts of plants, are often treated as vegetables. In everyday language, the fruit and vegetable are mutually exclusive. Fruit has a precise meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. This is considerably different from the words culinary meaning, while peaches, plums, and oranges are fruit in both senses, many items commonly called vegetables, such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, are botanically fruits. The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893

8.
Cultivar
–
The term cultivar most commonly refers to an assemblage of plants selected for desirable characteristics that are maintained during propagation. More generally, cultivar refers to the most basic classification category of cultivated plants governed by the ICNCP, most cultivars have arisen in cultivation, but a few are special selections from the wild. Popular ornamental garden plants like roses, camellias, daffodils, rhododendrons, trees used in forestry are also special selections grown for their enhanced quality and yield of timber. Cultivars form a part of Liberty Hyde Baileys broader grouping. Cultivar was coined by Bailey and it is regarded as a portmanteau of cultivated and variety. A cultivar is not the same as a variety, a taxonomic rank below subspecies. In recent times, the naming of cultivars has been complicated by the use of statutory plant patents, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants offers legal protection of plant cultivars to people or organisations who introduce new cultivars to commerce. UPOV requires that a cultivar be distinct, uniform and stable, to be distinct, it must have characteristics that easily distinguish it from any other known cultivar. To be uniform and stable, the cultivar must retain these characteristics under repeated propagation, a cultivar is given a cultivar name, which consists of the scientific Latin botanical name followed by a cultivar epithet. The cultivar epithet is usually in a vernacular language, for example, the full cultivar name of the King Edward potato is Solanum tuberosum King Edward. The King Edward part of the name is the cultivar epithet, the origin of the term cultivar arises from the need to distinguish between wild plants and those with characteristics that have arisen in cultivation. This distinction dates back to the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, the Father of Botany, botanical historian Alan Morton notes that Theophrastus in his Enquiry into Plants had an inkling of the limits of culturally induced changes and of the importance of genetic constitution. In Species Plantarum, Linnaeus listed all the known to him. Most of the listed by Linnaeus were of garden origin rather than being wild plants. Over time there was an increasing need to distinguish between plants growing in the wild, and those with variations that had produced in cultivation. In the nineteenth century many garden-derived plants were given names, sometimes in Latin. In the twentieth century an improved international terminology was proposed for the classification and it is essentially the equivalent of the botanical variety except in respect to its origin. However, Bailey was never explicit about the etymology of the word, and it has suggested that it is a contraction of the words cultigen and variety

9.
Petiole (botany)
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In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole is the transition between the stem and the leaf blade, outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile or epetiolate, the petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem. In petiolate leaves, the stalk may be long, as in the leaves of celery and rhubarb, short or completely absent. Subpetiolate leaves are petiolate, or have an extremely short petiole. The broomrape family Orobanchaceae is an example of a family in which the leaves are always sessile, in some other plant groups, such as the speedwell genus Veronica, petiolate and sessile leaves may occur in different species. In the grasses the leaves are apetiolate, but the blade may be narrowed at the junction with the leaf sheath to form a pseudopetiole. In plants with leaves, the leaflets are attached to a continuation of the petiole called the rachis. Each leaflet may be attached to the rachis by a stalk called the petiolule. There may be swollen regions at either end of the known as pulvina that are composed of a flexible tissue that allows leaf movement. Pulvina are common in the bean family Fabaceae and the plant family Marantaceae. A pulvinus on a petiolule is called a pulvinulus, in some plants, the petioles are flattened and widened, to become phyllodes or phyllodia, or cladophylls and the true leaves may be reduced or absent. Thus, the comes to serve the functions of the leaf. Phyllodes are common in the genus Acacia, especially the Australian species, in Acacia koa, the phyllodes are leathery and thick, allowing the tree to survive stressful environments. The petiole allows partially submerged hydrophytes to have leaves floating at different depths, in plants such as rhubarb, celery, artichokes and cardoons the petioles are cultivated as edible crops. The petiole of rhubarb grows directly from the rhizome and produces the leaf at its end, botanically it is categorized as a vegetable and culinarily used as a fruit. Petiole is pronounced /ˈpiːtᵻoʊl/ and comes from Latin petiolus, or peciolus little foot, stem, the regular diminutive pediculus is also used for foot stalk

10.
Nutritious
–
Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism, the diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by the availability, the processing and palatability of foods. A healthy diet includes preparation of food and storage methods that preserve nutrients from oxidation, heat or leaching, and they also provide preventive and therapeutic programs at work places, schools and similar institutions. Government regulation especially in terms of licensing, is less universal for the CCN than that of RD or RDN. Another advanced Nutrition Professional is a Certified Nutrition Specialist or CNS and these Board Certified Nutritionists typically specialize in obesity and chronic disease. In order to become certified, potential CNS candidate must pass an examination. This exam covers specific domains within the health sphere including, Clinical Intervention, a poor diet can cause the wasting of kwashiorkor in acute cases, and the stunting of marasmus in chronic cases of malnutrition. The first recorded dietary advice, carved into a Babylonian stone tablet in about 2500 BC, scurvy, later found to be a vitamin C deficiency, was first described in 1500 BC in the Ebers Papyrus. According to Walter Gratzer, the study of nutrition probably began during the 6th century BC, in China, the concept of Qi developed, a spirit or wind similar to what Western Europeans later called pneuma. Food was classified into hot and cold in China, India, Malaya, humours developed perhaps first in China alongside qi. Ho the Physician concluded that diseases are caused by deficiencies of elements, the first recorded nutritional experiment with human subjects is found in the Bibles Book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends were captured by the king of Babylon during an invasion of Israel, selected as court servants, they were to share in the kings fine foods and wine. But they objected, preferring vegetables and water in accordance with their Jewish dietary restrictions, the kings chief steward reluctantly agreed to a trial. Daniel and his friends received their diet for ten days and were compared to the kings men. Appearing healthier, they were allowed to continue with their diet, around 475 BC, Anaxagoras stated that food is absorbed by the human body and, therefore, contains homeomerics, suggesting the existence of nutrients. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates, who recognized and was concerned with obesity, the works that are still attributed to him, Corpus Hippocraticum, called for moderation and emphasized exercise. Salt, pepper and other spices were prescribed for various ailments in various preparations for example mixed with vinegar, in the 2nd century BC, Cato the Elder believed that cabbage could cure digestive diseases, ulcers, warts, and intoxication. Living about the turn of the millennium, Aulus Celsus, an ancient Roman doctor, believed in strong and weak foods

11.
Healthy diet
–
A healthy diet is one that helps to maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition, fluid, adequate essential amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, the requirements for a healthy diet can be met from a variety of plant-based and animal-based foods. A healthy diet supports energy needs and provides for human nutrition without exposure to toxicity or excessive weight gain from consuming excessive amounts. Where lack of calories is not an issue, a balanced diet is also thought to be important for lowering health risks, such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension. Various nutrition guides are published by medical and governmental institutions to educate the public on what they should be eating to promote health, Nutrition facts labels are also mandatory in some countries to allow consumers to choose between foods based on the components relevant to health. The idea of dietary therapy is quite old and thus has both modern forms and prescientific forms. For additional clarification, a five-word modifier helps, go easy on junk foods, although you may feel as though advice about nutrition is constantly changing, the basic ideas behind my four precepts have not changed in half a century. And they leave plenty of room for enjoying the pleasures of food, david L. Katz, who reviewed the most prevalent popular diets in 2014, noted, The weight of evidence strongly supports a theme of healthful eating while allowing for variations on that theme. Knowledge in this case is not, as of yet, power, limit intake of fats, and prefer unsaturated fats to saturated fats and trans fats. Increase consumption of plant foods, particularly fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, a 2003 report recommends less than 10% of calorie intake from simple sugars. Limit salt / sodium consumption from all sources and ensure that salt is iodized, other recommendations include, Essential micronutrients such as vitamins and certain minerals. Avoiding directly poisonous and carcinogenic substances, avoiding foods contaminated by human pathogens. WHO recommends an intake of less than 5 grams of salt per day for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, the Dietary Guidelines for American by the United States Department of Agriculture recommends three healthy patterns of diet, summarized in table below, for a 2000 kcal diet. S. Food group amounts per day, unless noted per week and this healthy diet is full of a wide range of various non-starchy vegetables and fruits, that provide different colors including red, green, yellow, white, purple, and orange. They note that tomato cooked with oil, allium vegetables like garlic and this healthy diet is low in energy density, which may protect against weight gain and associated diseases. Finally, limiting consumption of drinks, limiting energy rich foods, including “fast foods” and red meat. Overall, researchers and medical policy conclude that this diet can reduce the risk of chronic disease. In children less than 25 gms of added sugar is recommended per day, other recommendations include no extra sugars in those under 2 years old and less than one soft drink per week

12.
Beets
–
The beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant, usually known in North America as the beet, also table beet, garden beet, red beet, or golden beet. It is one of several of the varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots. These varieties have been classified as B. vulgaris subsp, other than as a food, beets have use as a food colouring and as a medicinal plant. Many beet products are made from other Beta vulgaris varieties, particularly sugar beet, usually the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. A large proportion of the production is processed into boiled and sterilized beets or into pickles. In Eastern Europe, beet soup, such as borscht, is a popular dish, in Indian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beet is a common side dish. Yellow-coloured beetroots are grown on a small scale for home consumption. The green, leafy portion of the beet is also edible, the young leaves can be added raw to salads, whilst the adult leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar to spinach. Those greens selected should be from bulbs that are unmarked, instead of those with overly limp leaves or wrinkled skins, the domestication of beets can be traced to the emergence of an allele which enables biennial harvesting of leaves and taproot. Pickled beets are a food in many countries. A traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dish is pickled beet egg, hard-boiled eggs are refrigerated in the liquid left over from pickling beets and allowed to marinate until the eggs turn a deep pink-red colour. The same in Serbia where the popular cvekla is used as salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar. As an addition to horseradish it is used to produce the red variety of chrain. Popular in Australian hamburgers, a slice of pickled beetroot is combined with other condiments on a beef patty to make an Aussie burger, when beet juice is used, it is most stable in foods with a low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can also be used to make wine, food shortages in Europe following World War I caused great hardships, including cases of mangelwurzel disease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beets, the chemical adipic acid rarely occurs in nature, but happens to occur naturally in beetroot. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially relating to digestion. Bartolomeo Platina recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of garlic-breath, during the middle of the 19th century wine often was coloured with beetroot juice

13.
Cardoon
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The cardoon, also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni, or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. It is a naturally occurring species that includes the globe artichoke and it is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times. The flowers are violet-purple, produced in a large, globose, in France, it only occurs wild in the Mediterranean south. It has become a weed in the pampas of Argentina. In cultivation in the United Kingdom, this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit, the two main cultivar groups are the cardoon, selected for edible leaf stems, and the artichoke, selected for larger edible flower buds. Wild and cultivated cardoons and artichokes are very similar genetically, and are fully interfertile, the earliest description of the cardoon may come from the fourth-century BC Greek writer Theophrastus, under the name κάκτος, although the exact identity of this plant is uncertain. The cardoon was popular in Greek, Roman, and Persian cuisine and it also became common in the vegetable gardens of colonial America, but fell from fashion in the late 19th century and is now very uncommon. In Europe, cardoon is still cultivated in France, Spain, in the Geneva region, where Huguenot refugees introduced it about 1685, the local cultivar Argenté de Genève is considered a culinary specialty. Before cardoons are sent to table, the stalks or ribs are blanched tying them together and wrapping them round with straw, which is tied up with cord. Cardoons also are common vegetables in northern Africa, often used in Algerian or Tunisian couscous, cardoon stalks can be covered with small, nearly invisible spines that can cause substantial pain if they become lodged in the skin. Several spineless cultivars have been developed to overcome this, cardoon requires a long, cool growing season, but it is frost-sensitive. It also typically requires substantial growing space per plant, so is not much grown except where it is regionally popular, while the flower buds can be eaten much as small artichokes, more often the stems are eaten after being braised in cooking liquid. Cardoon stems are for instance part of Lyonnaise cuisine, only the innermost, white stalks are considered edible, and cardoons are therefore usually prepared for sale by protecting the leaf stalks from the sunlight for several weeks. This was traditionally done by burying the plant underground, thus, cardoon plantations in Spain are often formed by earth mounds surrounding each plant. In modern cultivation, the plant is usually wrapped in black plastic film or other opaque material. The flower buds of wild cardoons are still collected and used in southern Italy and Sicily. Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like giant celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised and they are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers. The cardoon stalks are considered a delicacy in Spain, particularly in the region of Navarre

14.
Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms

15.
Sugar beet
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Sugar beet is the Altissima Group of cultivars of the common beet. It is a plant whose root contains a concentration of sucrose. Sugar beets and other cultivars, such as beetroot and chard, are members of Beta vulgaris subsp. Vulgaris and share a common ancestor, the Sea beet. In 2013, Russia, France, the United States, Germany, however, in 2010–2011, North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe did not produce enough sugar from sugar beets to meet overall demand for sugar, and were all net importers of sugar. The US harvested 1,004,600 acres of beets in 2008. In 2009, sugar accounted for 20% of the worlds sugar production. The sugar beet has a conical, white, fleshy root with a flat crown, the plant consists of the root and a rosette of leaves. Sugar is formed by photosynthesis in the leaves, and is stored in the root. The root of the beet contains 75% water, about 20% sugar, Sugar is the primary value of sugar beet as a cash crop. The pulp, insoluble in water and mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, the byproducts of the sugar beet crop, such as pulp and molasses, add another 10% to the value of the harvest. Sugar beets grow exclusively in the zone, in contrast to sugarcane. The average weight of sugar beet ranges between 0.5 and 1 kg, Sugar beet foliage has a rich, brilliant green color and grows to a height of about 35 cm. The leaves are numerous and broad and grow in a tuft from the crown of the beet, modern sugar beets date back to mid-18th century Silesia where the king of Prussia subsidised experiments aimed at processes for sugar extraction. In 1747 Andreas Marggraf isolated sugar from beetroots and found them at concentrations of 1. 3–1. 6% and he also demonstrated that sugar could be extracted from beets that was the same as that produced from sugarcane. His student, Franz Karl Achard, evaluated 23 varieties of mangelwurzel for sugar content and selected a strain from Halberstadt in modern-day Saxony-Anhalt. Moritz Baron von Koppy and his son further selected from this strain for white, the selection was named Weiße Schlesische Zuckerrübe, meaning white Silesian sugar beet, and boasted about a 6% sugar content. This selection is the progenitor of all modern sugar beets, a royal decree led to the first factory devoted to sugar extraction from beetroots being opened in Kunern, Silesia in 1801

16.
Beetroot
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The beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant, usually known in North America as the beet, also table beet, garden beet, red beet, or golden beet. It is one of several of the varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots. These varieties have been classified as B. vulgaris subsp, other than as a food, beets have use as a food colouring and as a medicinal plant. Many beet products are made from other Beta vulgaris varieties, particularly sugar beet, usually the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. A large proportion of the production is processed into boiled and sterilized beets or into pickles. In Eastern Europe, beet soup, such as borscht, is a popular dish, in Indian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beet is a common side dish. Yellow-coloured beetroots are grown on a small scale for home consumption. The green, leafy portion of the beet is also edible, the young leaves can be added raw to salads, whilst the adult leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar to spinach. Those greens selected should be from bulbs that are unmarked, instead of those with overly limp leaves or wrinkled skins, the domestication of beets can be traced to the emergence of an allele which enables biennial harvesting of leaves and taproot. Pickled beets are a food in many countries. A traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dish is pickled beet egg, hard-boiled eggs are refrigerated in the liquid left over from pickling beets and allowed to marinate until the eggs turn a deep pink-red colour. The same in Serbia where the popular cvekla is used as salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar. As an addition to horseradish it is used to produce the red variety of chrain. Popular in Australian hamburgers, a slice of pickled beetroot is combined with other condiments on a beef patty to make an Aussie burger, when beet juice is used, it is most stable in foods with a low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can also be used to make wine, food shortages in Europe following World War I caused great hardships, including cases of mangelwurzel disease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beets, the chemical adipic acid rarely occurs in nature, but happens to occur naturally in beetroot. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for a variety of conditions, especially relating to digestion. Bartolomeo Platina recommended taking beetroot with garlic to nullify the effects of garlic-breath, during the middle of the 19th century wine often was coloured with beetroot juice

17.
Amaranthaceae
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Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants known as the amaranth family. It now includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae, and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it the most species-rich lineage within the flowering plant order of Caryophyllales. Most of these species are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, some are shrubs, many species have stems with thickened nodes. The wood of the stem has a typical anomalous secondary growth. The leaves are alternate, sometimes opposite. The simple leaves are flat or terete, their shape is extremely variable, in some species, the leaves are reduced to minute scales. In most cases, neither basal or terminal aggregations of leaves occur, the flowers are solitary or aggregated in cymes, spikes, or panicles and typically perfect and actinomorphic. Bracts and bracteoles are either herbaceous or scarious, flowers are regular with a herbaceous or scarious perianth of mostly five tepals, often joined. One to five stamens are opposite to tepals or alternating, inserting from a hypogynous disc, the anthers have two or four pollen sacs. In tribe Caroxyloneae, antheres have vesicular appendages, the pollen grains are spherical with many pores, with pore numbers from a few to 250. One to three carpels are fused to a superior ovary with one basal ovule, the diaspores are seeds or fruits, more often the perianth persists and is modified in fruit for means of dispersal. Sometimes even bracts and bracteoles may belong to the diaspore, more rarely the fruit is a circumscissile capsule or a berry. The horizontal or vertical seed often has a thickened or woody seed coat, the green or white embryo is either spirally or annular. The basic chromosome number is mostly 8-9, widespread in the Amaranthaceae is the occurrence of betalain pigments. The former Chenopodiaceae often contain isoflavonoids, in phytochemical research, several methylenedioxyflavonols, saponins, triterpenoids, ecdysteroids, and specific root-located carbohydrates have been found. With around 800 species that are C4-plants, the Amaranthaceae represent the largest group with this photosynthesis pathway among the eudicots, within the family, several types of C4-photosynthesis occur, and about 17 different types of leaf anatomy are realized. Therefore, this photosynthesis pathway seems to have developed about 15 times independently during the evolution of the family. About two-thirds of the C4-species belong to the former Chenopodiaceae, the first occurrence of C4-photosynthesis dates from the early miocene, about 24 million years ago, but in some groups, this photosynthesis pathway has evolved much later, about 6 million years ago

18.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth

19.
Latin language
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole

20.
Artichoke
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The globe artichoke is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as a food. The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom, the budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the changes to a coarse. Another variety of the species is the cardoon, a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region. Both wild forms and cultivated varieties exist and this vegetable grows to 1. 4–2 m tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery, glaucous-green leaves 50–82 cm long. The flowers develop in a head from an edible bud about 8–15 cm diameter with numerous triangular scales. These are inedible in older, larger flowers, Artichoke contains the bioactive agents apigenin and luteolin. The total antioxidant capacity of artichoke flower heads is one of the highest reported for vegetables, cynarine is a chemical constituent in Cynara. The majority of the found in artichoke is located in the pulp of the leaves, though dried leaves. It inhibits taste receptors, making water seem sweet, the artichoke is mentioned as a garden plant in the 8th century BC by Homer and Hesiod. The naturally occurring variant of the artichoke, the cardoon, which is native to the Mediterranean area, also has records of use as a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans. In North Africa, where it is found in the wild state. Varieties of artichokes were cultivated in Sicily beginning in the period of the ancient Greeks. In that period, the Greeks ate the leaves and flower heads, the Romans called the vegetable carduus. Further improvement in the form appears to have taken place in the medieval period in Muslim Spain. Names for the artichoke in many European languages today come from medieval Arabic الخرشوف Al Khurshuuf via late medieval Spain, towards 1480 it is noticed in Venice, as a curiosity. But very soon veers towards the northwest. Artichoke beds are mentioned in Avignon by the notaries from 1532 onward, appearing as carchofas at Cavaillon in 1541, at Chateauneuf du Pape in 1553, at Orange in 1554. The local name remains carchofas, from the Italian carciofo and they are very small, the size of a hens egg. and are still considered a luxury, a vaguely aphrodisiac tidbit that one preserved in sugar syrup

21.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

22.
Gaspard Bauhin
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He was a disciple of the famous Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale and he also worked on human anatomical nomenclature. Linnaeus honored the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Jean in the genus name Bauhinia, Jean and Gaspard were the sons of Jean Bauhin, a French physician who had to leave his native country on becoming a convert to Protestantism. Gaspard was born at Basel and studied medicine at Padua, Montpellier, returning to Basel in 1580, he was admitted to the degree of doctor, and gave private lectures in botany and anatomy. In 1582 he was appointed to the Greek professorship in the University of Basel and he was later made city physician, professor of the practice of medicine, rector of the university, and dean of his faculty. The Pinax theatri botanici is a landmark of history, describing some 6,000 species. He did correctly group grasses, legumes, and several others and his most important contribution is in the description of genera and species. He introduced many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. For species he carefully pruned the descriptions down to as few words as possible, in many cases a single word sufficed as description, however, the single-word description was still a description intended to be diagnostic, not an arbitrarily-chosen name. He also gave a copious catalogue of the growing in the environs of Basel, its flora. His principal work on anatomy was Theatrum Anatomicum infinitis locis auctum, 49–52 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Bauhin, Gaspard. Images from Theatrum anatomicum From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library Caspari Bauhini, Proromos Theatri Botanici Digitized Copy on Archive. org

23.
Karl Heinrich Emil Koch
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Karl Heinrich Emil Koch was a German botanist. He is best known for his explorations in the Caucasus region. Most of his collections have today been lost and he is also known as the first professional horticultural officer in Germany. He was born in Ettersburg near Weimar, Germany and he studied at the universities of Jena and Würzburg and taught, as privatdocent, at the University of Jena beginning 1834. He became a professor in 1836. He undertook a journey of research into southern Russia in 1836-38, the fruit of this second trip, in which he also visited Asia Minor, Armenia, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains, was his Wanderungen im Oriente, während der Jahre 1843 und 1844. After his second journey, he settled at the University of Berlin in 1847 and he was at the Berlin botanical gardens beginning in 1849. He became general secretary of the Berlin Horticultural Society, in which capacity he published Wochenschrift für Gartnerei und Pflanzenkunde, in 1859, he was appointed professor of the Agricultural High School in Berlin. Besides the travel book already mentioned, Koch wrote Reise durch Russland nach dem kaukasischen Isthmus, Fährtenabdrücke im bunten Sandstein, Hortus dendrologicus, Dendrologie, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Rines, George Edwin, ed. Koch, Karl. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Gilman. Thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds

24.
Food energy
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Food energy is chemical energy that animals derive from food and molecular oxygen through the process of cellular respiration. Humans and other animals need a minimum intake of energy to sustain their metabolism. Foods are composed chiefly of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, alcohol, water, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, alcohol, and water represent virtually all the weight of food, with vitamins and minerals making up only a small percentage of the weight. Organisms derive food energy from carbohydrates, fats and proteins as well as organic acids, polyols. Some diet components that provide little or no energy, such as water, minerals, vitamins, cholesterol. Water, minerals, vitamins, and cholesterol are not broken down, fiber, a type of carbohydrate, cannot be completely digested by the human body. Ruminants can extract energy from the respiration of cellulose because of bacteria in their rumens. Using the International System of Units, researchers measure energy in joules or in its multiples, the kilojoule is most often used for food-related quantities. An older metric system unit of energy, still used in food-related contexts, is the calorie, more precisely. Within the European Union, both the kilocalorie and kilojoule appear on nutrition labels, in many countries, only one of the units is displayed, in the US and Canada labels spell out the unit as calorie or as Calorie. Fats and ethanol have the greatest amount of energy per gram,37 and 29 kJ/g. Proteins and most carbohydrates have about 17 kJ/g, carbohydrates that are not easily absorbed, such as fiber, or lactose in lactose-intolerant individuals, contribute less food energy. Polyols and organic acids contribute 10 kJ/g and 13 kJ/g respectively, the amount of water, fat, and fiber in foods determines those foods energy density. Theoretically, one could measure food energy in different ways, using the Gibbs free energy of combustion, however, the convention is to use the heat of the oxidation reaction producing liquid water. The American chemist Wilbur Atwater worked these corrections out in the late 19th century, based on the work of Atwater, it became common practice to calculate energy content of foods using 4 kcal/g for carbohydrates and proteins and 9 kcal/g for lipids. The system was improved by Annabel Merrill and Bernice Watt of the USDA. Many governments require food manufacturers to label the energy content of their products, in the European Union, manufacturers of packaged food must label the nutritional energy of their products in both kilocalories and kilojoules, when required. In Australia and New Zealand, the energy must be stated in kilojoules

25.
Carbohydrate
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A carbohydrate is a biological molecule consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2,1, in other words, with the empirical formula Cmn. This formula holds true for monosaccharides, some exceptions exist, for example, deoxyribose, a sugar component of DNA, has the empirical formula C5H10O4. Carbohydrates are technically hydrates of carbon, structurally it is accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones. The term is most common in biochemistry, where it is a synonym of saccharide, a group that includes sugars, starch, the saccharides are divided into four chemical groups, monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides and disaccharides, the smallest carbohydrates, are referred to as sugars. The word saccharide comes from the Greek word σάκχαρον, meaning sugar, while the scientific nomenclature of carbohydrates is complex, the names of the monosaccharides and disaccharides very often end in the suffix -ose. For example, grape sugar is the glucose, cane sugar is the disaccharide sucrose. Carbohydrates perform numerous roles in living organisms, polysaccharides serve for the storage of energy and as structural components. The 5-carbon monosaccharide ribose is an important component of coenzymes and the backbone of the genetic molecule known as RNA, the related deoxyribose is a component of DNA. Saccharides and their derivatives include many other important biomolecules that play key roles in the system, fertilization, preventing pathogenesis, blood clotting. In food science and in informal contexts, the term carbohydrate often means any food that is particularly rich in the complex carbohydrate starch or simple carbohydrates. Often in lists of information, such as the USDA National Nutrient Database, the term carbohydrate is used for everything other than water, protein, fat, ash. This will include chemical compounds such as acetic or lactic acid, carbohydrates are found in wide variety of foods. The important sources are cereals, potatoes, sugarcane, fruits, table sugar, bread, milk, starch and sugar are the important carbohydrates in our diet. Starch is abundant in potatoes, maize, rice and other cereals, sugar appears in our diet mainly as sucrose which is added to drinks and many prepared foods such as jam, biscuits and cakes. Glucose and fructose are found naturally in fruits and some vegetables. Glycogen is carbohydrate found in the liver and muscles, cellulose in the cell wall of all plant tissue is a carbohydrate. It is important in our diet as fibre which helps to maintain a healthy digestive system, formerly the name carbohydrate was used in chemistry for any compound with the formula Cm n

26.
Sugar
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Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose, fructose, the table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Sugar is used in prepared foods and it is added to some foods, in the body, sucrose is hydrolysed into the simple sugars fructose and glucose. Other disaccharides include maltose from malted grain, and lactose from milk, longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol may also have a sweet taste, low-calorie food substitutes for sugar, described as artificial sweeteners, include aspartame and sucralose, a chlorinated derivative of sucrose. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants and are present in sufficient concentrations for efficient commercial extraction in sugarcane, the world production of sugar in 2011 was about 168 million tonnes. The average person consumes about 24 kilograms of sugar each year, equivalent to over 260 food calories per person, since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is good for human health. Sugar has been linked to obesity, and suspected of, or fully implicated as a cause in the occurrence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration, the etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word sugar ultimately originates from the Sanskrit शर्करा, via Arabic سكر as granular or candied sugar, the contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar, respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre and the contemporary French, sucre, the earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρις. The English word jaggery, a brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin – Portuguese jagara from the Sanskrit शर्करा. Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and it was not plentiful or cheap in early times and honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness, sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule, one of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 8th century BC that state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. Sugar was found in Europe by the 1st century AD, but only as an imported medicine and it is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut, sugar is used only for medical purposes. Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store, crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century AD

27.
Dietary fiber
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Dietary fiber or roughage is the indigestible portion of food derived from plants. It has two components, Soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts. It delays gastric emptying which in turn can cause a feeling of fullness. Insoluble fiber, which does not dissolve in water, is inert and provides bulking, or it can be prebiotic. Bulking fibers absorb water as they move through the digestive system, Dietary fibers can act by changing the nature of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and by changing how other nutrients and chemicals are absorbed. Some types of soluble fiber absorb water to become a gelatinous, viscous substance which is fermented by bacteria in the digestive tract, some types of insoluble fiber have bulking action and are not fermented. Lignin, a major dietary insoluble fiber source, may alter the rate, other types of insoluble fiber, notably resistant starch, are fully fermented. A novel position has been adopted by the US Department of Agriculture to include functional fibers as isolated fiber sources that may be included in the diet, the term fiber is something of a misnomer, since many types of so-called dietary fiber are not actually fibrous. Food sources of fiber are often divided according to whether they provide soluble or insoluble fiber. Plant foods contain both types of fiber in varying degrees, according to the plants characteristics, a disadvantage of a diet high in fiber is the potential for significant intestinal gas production and bloating. Originally, fiber was defined to be the components of plants that resist human digestive enzymes, the definition was later changed to also include resistant starch, along with inulin and other oligosaccharides. Official definition of dietary fiber differs a little among different institutions, Dietary fibers are found in fruits, vegetables, the exact amount of fiber contained in the food can be seen in the following table of expected fiber in USDA food groups/subgroups Dietary fiber is found in plants. While all plants contain some fiber, plants with high concentrations are generally the most practical source. Fiber-rich plants can be eaten directly, or, alternatively, they can be used to make supplements and fiber-rich processed foods. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly the American Dietetic Association, some plants contain significant amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber. For example, plums and prunes have a thick skin covering a juicy pulp, the skin is a source of insoluble fiber, whereas soluble fiber is in the pulp. Grapes also contain an amount of fiber. The root of the plant, or glucomannan, produces results similar to fiber

28.
Fat
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Fat is one of the three main macronutrients, along with carbohydrate and protein. Fats, also known as triglycerides, are esters of three fatty acid chains and the alcohol glycerol, the terms oil, fat, and lipid are often confused. Oil normally refers to a fat with short or unsaturated fatty acid chains that is liquid at room temperature, lipid is the general term, as a lipid is not necessarily a triglyceride. Fats, like lipids, are generally hydrophobic, and are soluble in organic solvents. Fat is an important foodstuff for many forms of life, and they are a necessary part of the diet of most heterotrophs. Some fatty acids that are set free by the digestion of fats are called essential because they cannot be synthesized in the body from simpler constituents, there are two essential fatty acids in human nutrition, alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid. Other lipids needed by the body can be synthesized from these, fats and other lipids are broken down in the body by enzymes called lipases produced in the pancreas. Fats and oils are categorized according to the number and bonding of the atoms in the aliphatic chain. Fats that are saturated fats have no double bonds between the carbons in the chain, unsaturated fats have one or more double bonded carbons in the chain. The nomenclature is based on the end of the chain. This end is called the end or the n-end. Thus alpha-linolenic acid is called an omega-3 fatty acid because the 3rd carbon from that end is the first double bonded carbon in the counting from that end. Some oils and fats have double bonds and are therefore called polyunsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats can be divided into cis fats, which are the most common in nature, and trans fats. Unsaturated fats can be altered by reaction with hydrogen effected by a catalyst and this action, called hydrogenation, tends to break all the double bonds and makes a fully saturated fat. However, trans fats are generated during hydrogenation as contaminants created by a side reaction on the catalyst during partial hydrogenation. Saturated fats can stack themselves in a closely packed arrangement, so they can easily and are typically solid at room temperature. For example, animal fats tallow and lard are high in saturated fatty acid content and are solids, olive and linseed oils on the other hand are unsaturated and liquid

29.
Protein (nutrient)
–
Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body. They are one of the blocks of body tissue. As a fuel, proteins provide as much energy density as carbohydrates,4 kcal per gram, in contrast, the most important aspect and defining characteristic of protein from a nutritional standpoint is its amino acid composition. Proteins are polymer chains made of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds, during human digestion, proteins are broken down in the stomach to smaller polypeptide chains via hydrochloric acid and protease actions. This is crucial for the synthesis of the amino acids that cannot be biosynthesized by the body. There are nine amino acids which humans must obtain from their diet in order to prevent protein-energy malnutrition. They are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, there are five dispensable amino acids which humans are able to synthesize in the body. These five are alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid and these six are arginine, cysteine, glycine, glutamine, proline and tyrosine. Humans need the essential amino acids in certain ratios, some protein sources contain amino acids in a more or less complete sense. This has given rise to various ranking systems for protein sources, Dietary sources of protein include both animals and plants, meats, dairy products, fish and eggs as well as grains, legumes and nuts. Vegetarians and vegans can get enough essential amino acids by eating a variety of plant proteins and it is commonly believed that athletes should consume a higher-than-normal protein intake to maintain optimal physical performance. Protein is a nutrient needed by the body for growth. Aside from water, proteins are the most abundant kind of molecules in the body, Protein can be found in all cells of the body and is the major structural component of all cells in the body, especially muscle. This also includes body organs, hair and skin, proteins are also used in membranes, such as glycoproteins. When broken down into amino acids, they are used as precursors to acid, co-enzymes, hormones, immune response, cellular repair. Additionally, protein is needed to form blood cells, proteins are believed to increase performance in terms of athletics. Amino acids, the blocks of proteins, are used for building muscle tissue. Protein is only used as fuel when carbohydrates are low

30.
Vitamin
–
A vitamin is an organic compound and a vital nutrient that an organism requires in limited amounts. For example, ascorbic acid is a vitamin for humans, supplementation is important for the treatment of certain health problems, but there is little evidence of nutritional benefit when used by otherwise healthy people. Thirteen vitamins are universally recognized at present, Vitamins are classified by their biological and chemical activity, not their structure. Thus, each vitamin refers to a number of compounds that all show the biological activity associated with a particular vitamin. Such a set of chemicals is grouped under an alphabetized vitamin generic descriptor title, such as vitamin A, which includes the compounds retinal, retinol, and four known carotenoids. Vitamers by definition are convertible to the form of the vitamin in the body. Some, such as vitamin D, have hormone-like functions as regulators of mineral metabolism, or regulators of cell and tissue growth and differentiation. The largest number of vitamins, the B complex vitamins, function as cofactors or the precursors for them. In this role, vitamins may be bound to enzymes as part of prosthetic groups, For example. They may also be less tightly bound to enzyme catalysts as coenzymes, for example, folic acid may carry methyl, formyl, and methylene groups in the cell. Although these roles in assisting enzyme-substrate reactions are vitamins best-known function, study of structural activity, function and their role in maintaining health is called vitaminology. Each vitamin is typically used in reactions, and therefore most have multiple functions. Vitamins are essential for the growth and development of a multicellular organism. Using the genetic blueprint inherited from its parents, a fetus begins to develop from the nutrients it absorbs and it requires certain vitamins and minerals to be present at certain times. These nutrients facilitate the chemical reactions that produce among other things, skin, bone, if there is serious deficiency in one or more of these nutrients, a child may develop a deficiency disease. Even minor deficiencies may cause permanent damage, for the most part, vitamins are obtained with food, but a few are obtained by other means. Humans can produce some vitamins from precursors they consume, examples include vitamin A, produced from beta carotene, and niacin, from the amino acid tryptophan. In those who are healthy, there is little evidence that supplements have any benefits with respect to cancer or heart disease

31.
Vitamin A
–
Vitamin A is a group of unsaturated nutritional organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids. Vitamin A has multiple functions, it is important for growth and development, for the maintenance of the immune system and good vision. Vitamin A is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of retinal, which combines with protein opsin to form rhodopsin, Vitamin A also functions in a very different role as retinoic acid, which is an important hormone-like growth factor for epithelial and other cells. In foods of animal origin, the form of vitamin A is an ester, primarily retinyl palmitate. The retinol form functions as a form of the vitamin. All forms of vitamin A have a ring to which an isoprenoid chain is attached, called a retinyl group. Both structural features are essential for vitamin activity, the orange pigment of carrots can be represented as two connected retinyl groups, which are used in the body to contribute to vitamin A levels. Alpha-carotene and gamma-carotene also have a single group, which give them some vitamin activity. None of the other carotenes have vitamin activity, the carotenoid beta-cryptoxanthin possesses an ionone group and has vitamin activity in humans. Vitamin A can be found in two forms in foods, Retinol, the form of vitamin A absorbed when eating animal food sources, is a yellow. Since the pure form is unstable, the vitamin is found in tissues in a form of retinyl ester. It is also produced and administered as esters such as retinyl acetate or palmitate. Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to approximately one third of children under the age of five around the world. It is estimated to claim the lives of 670,000 children under five annually, approximately 250, 000–500,000 children in developing countries become blind each year owing to vitamin A deficiency, with the highest prevalence in Southeast Asia and Africa. Vitamin A deficiency is the cause of preventable childhood blindness. It also increases the risk of death from common childhood conditions such as diarrhea, UNICEF regards addressing vitamin A deficiency as critical to reducing child mortality, the fourth of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Vitamin A deficiency can occur as either a primary or a secondary deficiency, early weaning from breastmilk can also increase the risk of vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A is a vitamin and depends on micellar solubilization for dispersion into the small intestine

32.
Beta-Carotene
–
β-Carotene is an organic, strongly colored red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids, synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units, among the carotenes, β-carotene is distinguished by having beta-rings at both ends of the molecule. β-Carotene is biosynthesized from geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, β-Carotene is the most common form of carotene in plants. When used as a coloring, it has the E number E160a. The structure was deduced by Karrer et al. in 1930, in nature, β-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A via the action of beta-carotene 15, 15-monooxygenase. Isolation of β-carotene from fruits abundant in carotenoids is commonly done using column chromatography and it can also be extracted from the beta-carotene rich algae, Dunaliella salina. The separation of β-carotene from the mixture of other carotenoids is based on the polarity of a compound, β-Carotene is a non-polar compound, so it is separated with a non-polar solvent such as hexane. Being highly conjugated, it is colored, and as a hydrocarbon lacking functional groups. Plant carotenoids are the primary source of provitamin A worldwide. Carotenoid absorption is restricted to the duodenum of the intestine and dependent on class B scavenger receptor membrane protein. One molecule of β-carotene can be cleaved by the intestinal enzyme β, β-carotene 15, absorption efficiency is estimated to be between 9 and 22%. The absorption and conversion of carotenoids may depend on the form of β-carotene, the intake of fats and oils at the time. Symmetric cleavage with the enzyme β, β-carotene-15, 15-dioxygenase requires the antioxidant α-tocopherol and this symmetric cleavage gives two equivalent retinal molecules and each retinal molecule further reacts to give retinol and retinoic acid. β-Carotene is also cleaved into two products, the product is β-apocarotenal. Asymmetric cleavage reduces the level of retinoic acid significantly, RE was developed 1967 by the United Nations/World Health Organization Food and Agriculture Organization. Another older unit of vitamin A activity is the international unit, β-Carotene contributes to the orange color of many different fruits and vegetables. The color of β-carotene is masked by chlorophyll in green vegetables such as spinach, kale, sweet potato leaves. Vietnamese gac and crude oil have the highest content of β-carotene of any known plant sources,10 times higher than carrots

33.
Lutein
–
Lutein is a xanthophyll and one of 600 known naturally occurring carotenoids. Lutein is synthesized only by plants and like other xanthophylls is found in quantities in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale. See xanthophyll cycle for this topic, Lutein is obtained by animals directly or indirectly, from plants. Lutein is apparently employed by animals as an antioxidant and for light absorption. Lutein is found in egg yolks and animal fats, in addition to coloring yolks, lutein causes the yellow color of chicken skin and fat, and is used in chicken feed for this purpose. The human retina accumulates lutein and zeaxanthin, the latter predominates at the macula lutea while lutein predominates elsewhere in the retina. There, it may serve as a photoprotectant for the retina from the effects of free radicals produced by blue light. Lutein is isomeric with zeaxanthin, differing only in the placement of one double bond, the principal natural stereoisomer of lutein is -beta, epsilon-carotene-3, 3′-diol. Lutein is a molecule and is generally insoluble in water. The presence of the chromophore of conjugated double bonds provides the distinctive light-absorbing properties. The polyene chain is susceptible to degradation by light or heat and is chemically unstable in acids. Lutein is present in plants as fatty-acid esters, with one or two fatty acids bound to the two hydroxyl-groups. For this reason, saponification of lutein esters to yield free lutein may yield lutein in any ratio from 1,1 to 1,2 molar ratio with the fatty acid. This xanthophyll, like its sister compound zeaxanthin, has primarily used as a natural colorant due to its orange-red color. Lutein absorbs blue light and therefore appears yellow at low concentrations and it inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor. Lutein was traditionally used in chicken feed to improve the color of chicken skin. Polled consumers viewed yellow chicken skin more favorably than white chicken skin, such lutein fortification also results in a darker yellow egg yolk. Today the coloring of the egg yolk has become the reason for feed fortification

34.
Zeaxanthin
–
Zeaxanthin is one of the most common carotenoid alcohols found in nature. It is important in the xanthophyll cycle, synthesized in plants and some micro-organisms, it is the pigment that gives paprika, corn, saffron, wolfberries, and many other plants and microbes their characteristic color. The name is derived from Zea mays, plus xanthos, the Greek word for yellow, animals derive zeaxanthin from a plant diet. Zeaxanthin is one of the two primary xanthophyll carotenoids contained within the retina of the eye, within the central macula, zeaxanthin is the dominant component, whereas in the peripheral retina, lutein predominates. Zeaxanthin supplements are typically taken on the supposition of supporting eye health, as a food additive, zeaxanthin is a food dye with E number E161h. Lutein and zeaxanthin have identical chemical formulas and are isomers, the only difference between them is in the location of the double bond in one of the end rings. This difference gives lutein three chiral centers whereas zeaxanthin has two, because of symmetry, the and stereoisomers of zeaxanthin are identical. Therefore, zeaxanthin has only three stereoisomeric forms, the principal natural form of zeaxanthin is -zeaxanthin. The macula mainly contains the - and meso-zeaxanthin forms, but it contains much smaller amounts of the third form. Evidence exists that a specific zeaxanthin-binding protein recruits circulating zeaxanthin and lutein for uptake within the macula, zeaxanthin biosynthesis therefore proceeds from beta-carotene to zeaxanthin via beta-cryptoxanthin. Although functionally identical, several distinct beta-carotene hydroxylase proteins are known, due to the nature of zeaxanthin, relative to astaxanthin beta-carotene hydroxylase proteins have been studied extensively. Because foods high in one of these tend to be high in the other. Three subsequent meta-analyses of dietary lutein and zeaxanthin all conclude that these lower the risk of progression from early stage AMD to late stage AMD. The reports did not separate zeaxanthin effect from lutein effect, there is only one published clinical intervention trial testing for an effect of lutein and zeaxanthin supplementation on cataracts. The AREDS2 trial enrolled subjects at risk for progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration, overall, the group getting lutein and zeaxanthin were NOT less likely to progress to needed cataract surgery. The authors speculated that there may be a cataract prevention benefit for people with low dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin, although more convincing evidence has accrued, no company had reapplied for a label health claim. In Europe, as recently as 2014, the European Food Safety Authority reviewed and rejected claims that lutein or lutein plus zeaxanthin improved vision, zeaxanthin is the pigment that gives paprika, corn, saffron, wolfberries, and many other plants their characteristic color. Spirulina is also a source and can serve as a dietary supplement

35.
Folate
–
Folic acid, another form of which is known as folate, is one of the B vitamins. The recommended daily level of folate is 400 micrograms from foods or dietary supplements. Folic acid is used to treat anemia caused by folic acid deficiency and it is also used as a supplement by women during pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects in the baby. Low levels in early pregnancy are believed to be the cause of more than half of babies born with neural tube defects, more than 50 countries use fortification of certain foods with folic acid as a measure to decrease the rate of NTDs in the population. Long term supplementation is also associated with reductions in the risk of stroke. It may be taken by mouth or by injection, there are no common side effects. It is not known whether high doses over a period of time are of concern. There are concerns that large amounts of folic acid might hide vitamin B12 deficiency, folic acid is essential for the body to make DNA, RNA, and metabolise amino acids which are required for cell division. As humans cannot make folic acid, it is required from the diet, not consuming enough folate can lead to folate deficiency. This may result in a type of anemia in which low numbers of red blood cells occur. Symptoms may include feeling tired, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, open sores on the tongue, deficiency in children may develop within a month of poor dietary intake. In adults normal total body folate is between 10, 000–30,000 micrograms with blood levels of greater than 7 nmol/L, folic acid was discovered between 1931 and 1943. It is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, the wholesale cost of supplements in the developing world is between 0.001 and 0.005 USD per dose as of 2014. The term folic is from the Latin word folium, which means leaf, folates occur naturally in many foods especially dark green leafy vegetables and liver. Other names include vitamin B9, vitamin Bc, vitamin M, folacin, folic acid intake during pregnancy has been linked to a lessened risk of neural tube defects. Likewise, a meta-analysis of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy reported a 28% lower risk of congenital heart defects. The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends folic acid supplementation for all able to become pregnant. Prenatal supplementation did not appear to reduce the risk of pre-term births, and there does not appear to be a correlation between maternal folic acid supplementation and an increased risk for asthma in the child

36.
Choline
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Choline is a water-soluble vitamin-like essential nutrient. The term cholines refers to the class of quaternary ammonium salts containing the N, N, the cation appears in the head groups of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, two classes of phospholipid that are abundant in cell membranes. Choline is the molecule for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is involved in many functions including memory. Some animals cannot produce choline, but must consume it through their diet to remain healthy, humans make choline in the liver. Whether dietary or supplemental choline is beneficial or harmful to humans is undefined, possible dangers include increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, while possible benefits include reducing the risk of neural tube defects and fatty liver disease. According to the US Institute of Medicine, there is not enough evidence to establish a Recommended Daily Intake for choline. The Australian and New Zealand national nutrition bodies note that while deficiency has been seen during experiments, all three have published an Adequate Intake value, discussed below. The European Unions food safety authority says there are no Recommended Daily Intakes in the EU, methionine and folate are known to interact with choline while homocysteine is undergoing methylation to produce methionine. Recent studies have shown that choline deficiency may have effects, even when sufficient amounts of methionine. Choline was first isolated by Adolph Strecker from pig and ox bile in 1862, when it was first chemically synthesized by Oscar Liebreich in 1865, it was known as neurine until 1898 when it was shown to be chemically identical to choline. In 1998, choline was classified as an essential nutrient by the Food, Choline is a quaternary ammonium salt with the chemical formula 3N+2OHX−, where X− is a counterion such as chloride, hydroxide or tartrate. Choline chloride can form a deep eutectic solvent mixture with urea with unusual properties. The salicylate salt is used topically for pain relief of aphthous ulcers, Choline hydroxide is one of the class of phase transfer catalysts that are used to carry the hydroxide ion into organic systems, and, therefore, is considered a strong base. It is the phase transfer catalyst, and is used as an effective method of stripping photoresists in circuit boards. Choline hydroxide is not completely stable, and it breaks down into trimethylamine. Choline is a precursor to trimethylamine, which some persons are not able to break due to a genetic disorder called trimethylaminuria. Persons suffering from this disorder may suffer from a strong fishy or otherwise unpleasant body odor, a body odor will occur even on a normal diet – i. e. one that is not particularly high in choline. Persons with trimethylaminuria are advised to restrict the intake of foods high in choline, the following are choline values for a selection of foods in quantities that people may consume in a day

37.
Vitamin C
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Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid, is a vitamin found in food and used as a dietary supplement. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent scurvy, evidence does not support use in the general population for the prevention of the common cold. It may be taken by mouth or by injection, large doses may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, headache, trouble sleeping, and flushing of the skin. Normal doses are safe during pregnancy, Vitamin C is an essential nutrient involved in the repair of tissue. Foods that contain vitamin C include citrus fruit, tomatoes, Vitamin C was discovered in 1912, isolated in 1928, and first made in 1933. It is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, Vitamin C is available as a generic medication and over the counter. In 2015, the wholesale cost in the world was about 0.003 to 0.007 USD per tablet. In some countries, ascorbic acid may be added to such as breakfast cereal. A2012 Cochrane review found no effect of vitamin C supplementation on overall mortality, although rare in modern times, scurvy and its associated destabilization of collagen, connective tissue, and bone can be prevented by adequate vitamin C intake. A2014 review found that, Currently, the use of high-dose IV vitamin C cannot be recommended outside of a clinical trial, a 2013 Cochrane review found no evidence that vitamin C supplementation reduces the risk of lung cancer in healthy or high risk people. A2014 meta-analysis found that vitamin C intake might protect against lung cancer risk, a second meta-analysis found no effect on the risk of prostate cancer. Two meta-analyses evaluated the effect of vitamin C supplementation on the risk of colorectal cancer, one found a weak association between vitamin C consumption and reduced risk, and the other found no effect of supplementation. A2013 meta-analysis found no evidence that vitamin C supplementation reduces the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular mortality, however, a second analysis found an inverse relationship between circulating vitamin C levels or dietary vitamin C and the risk of stroke. A meta-analysis of 44 clinical trials has shown a significant positive effect of vitamin C on endothelial function when taken at doses greater than 500 mg per day. The researchers noted that the effect of vitamin C supplementation appeared to be dependent on health status, a 2010 review found no role for vitamin C supplementation in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Studies examining the effects of vitamin C intake on the risk of Alzheimers disease have reached conflicting conclusions, maintaining a healthy dietary intake is probably more important than supplementation for achieving any potential benefit. Vitamin C supplementation above the RDA has been used in trials to study a potential effect on preventing and slowing the progression of age-related cataract, however, no significant effects were found from the research. Vitamin Cs effect on the cold has been extensively researched

Silverbeet (album)
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Silverbeet is an album released in 1993 by New Zealand band The Bats. The album was recorded from 15 November to 2 December 1992, at The Outpost in Stoughton, courage was released as a CD single that included two additional non-album tracks and a reworked version of Slow Alight. Silverbeet peaked at #26 on the New Zealand album charts, all lyrics w

1.
Silverbeet

Species
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In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is problematic, for example, with hybridisation

1.
John Ray

2.
Carl Linnaeus believed in the fixity of species.

Beta vulgaris
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Beta vulgaris is a plant which is included in Betoideae subfamily in the Amaranthaceae family. It is the economically most important crop of the large order Caryophyllales, all cultivars fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. The wild ancestor of the cultivated beets is the sea beet, Beta vulgaris is an herbaceous biennial or, rarely, perenn

1.
Beta vulgaris

2.
Yellow-stemmed chard (with purple-leaved kale).

3.
Packaged, precooked beetroot

Subspecies
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In biological classification, subspecies is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or a taxonomic unit in that rank. A subspecies cannot be recognized independently, a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or at least two, in zoology, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the subspecies is the

Sea beet
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The sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. Maritima, is a member of the family Amaranthaceae, previously of the Chenopodiaceae, the sea beet is native to the coasts of Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia. The sea beet is the ancestor of common vegetables such as beetroot, sugar beet. Its leaves have a pleasant texture and taste when served raw or co

1.
Sea beet

Leaf vegetable
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Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, vegetable greens, leafy greens, or salad greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Although they come from a wide variety of plants, most share a great deal with other leaf vegetables in nutrition. Nearly one thousand species of plants with leav

1.
Spinach leaves in a colander.

2.
Fresh Gotukola (Centella asiatica)

3.
Fresh Swiss chard

4.
Sabzi Khordan, an Iranian salad-like dish.

Vegetable
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In everyday usage, a vegetable is any part of a plant that is consumed by humans as food as part of a meal. The term vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, and largely defined through culinary and it normally excludes other food derived from plants such as fruits, nuts, and cereal grains, but includes seeds such as pulses. The original meaning of the veg

1.
Vegetables in a market in the Philippines

2.
Domestic vegetable garden in the United Kingdom

3.
cabbage Brassica oleracea

4.
turnip Brassica rapa

Cultivar
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The term cultivar most commonly refers to an assemblage of plants selected for desirable characteristics that are maintained during propagation. More generally, cultivar refers to the most basic classification category of cultivated plants governed by the ICNCP, most cultivars have arisen in cultivation, but a few are special selections from the wi

1.
Osteospermum 'Pink Whirls' A cultivar selected for its intriguing and colourful flowers

4.
Leucospermum 'Scarlet Ribbon' A cross performed in Tasmania between L. glabrum and L. tottum

Petiole (botany)
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In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole is the transition between the stem and the leaf blade, outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile or epetiolate, the petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant ste

1.
Leaf of dog rose (Rosa canina), showing the petiole, two leafy stipules, and five leaflets

2.
Harvested rhubarb petioles with leaves attached

3.
Acacia koa with phyllode between the branch and the compound leaves

Nutritious
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Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism, the diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by the availability,

1.
Hippocrates lived about 400 BC, and Galen and the understanding of nutrition followed him for centuries.

2.
The "Nutrition Facts" table indicates the amounts of nutrients that experts recommend to limit or consume in adequate amounts.

3.
Followed for a millennium and a half, Galen (1st century) created the first coherent (although mistaken) theory of nutrition.

4.
James Lind conducted in 1747 the first controlled clinical trial in modern times, and in 1753 published Treatise on Scurvy.

Healthy diet
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A healthy diet is one that helps to maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition, fluid, adequate essential amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, the requirements for a healthy diet can be met from a variety of plant-based and animal-based foods. A healthy diet supports

Beets
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The beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant, usually known in North America as the beet, also table beet, garden beet, red beet, or golden beet. It is one of several of the varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots. These varieties have been classified as B. vulgaris subsp, other than as a food, beets have use as a food c

1.
A bundle of beetroot

2.
Section through taproot

3.
Borscht

4.
Salad of grated beet and apple

Cardoon
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The cardoon, also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni, or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. It is a naturally occurring species that includes the globe artichoke and it is native to the western and central Mediterranean region, where it was domesticated in ancient times. The flowers are violet-purple, produ

Synonym (taxonomy)
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For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy,

1.
The Latin Caudata and Greek Urodela both mean "tailed" and have been used as a scientific name at the rank of order for the salamanders (as opposed to the tail-less frogs). Thus they are synonyms.

2.
The common dandelion Taraxacum officinale sensu lato is an extremely widespread group of apomictic lineages, and some scientists apply the "biological species concept" to divide it into many distinct species; other scientists regard all the names for those independent species as synonyms.

Sugar beet
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Sugar beet is the Altissima Group of cultivars of the common beet. It is a plant whose root contains a concentration of sucrose. Sugar beets and other cultivars, such as beetroot and chard, are members of Beta vulgaris subsp. Vulgaris and share a common ancestor, the Sea beet. In 2013, Russia, France, the United States, Germany, however, in 2010–20

Beetroot
–
The beetroot is the taproot portion of the beet plant, usually known in North America as the beet, also table beet, garden beet, red beet, or golden beet. It is one of several of the varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots. These varieties have been classified as B. vulgaris subsp, other than as a food, beets have use as a food c

Amaranthaceae
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Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants known as the amaranth family. It now includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae, and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it the most species-rich lineage within the flowering plant order of Caryophyllales. Most of these species are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, some ar

1.
Amaranthaceae

2.
Bassia laniflora (Illustration), Camphorosmoideae

3.
Flower of Nitrophila occidentalis, Polycnemoideae

4.
Pollen grains of Halothamnus glaucus

French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and

1.
The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.

2.
Regions where French is the main language

3.
Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya in Lebanon.

Latin language
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages

1.
Latin inscription, in the Colosseum

2.
Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the Roman republic.

Artichoke
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The globe artichoke is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as a food. The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom, the budding artichoke flower-head is a cluster of many budding small flowers together with many bracts, on an edible base. Once the buds bloom, the changes to a coarse. Anothe

1.
Artichoke

2.
Artichoke head with flower in bloom

3.
Some varieties of artichoke display purple coloration

4.
Globe artichokes being cooked

Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switz

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Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.

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Flag

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The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)

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The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.

Gaspard Bauhin
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He was a disciple of the famous Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale and he also worked on human anatomical nomenclature. Linnaeus honored the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Jean in the genus name Bauhinia, Jean and Gaspard were the sons of Jean Bauhin, a French physician who had to leave his native country on becoming a convert to Protestantism. Gas

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Gaspard Bauhin

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Caspar Bauhin (1623), Pinax Theatri Botanici, page 291. On this page, a number of Tithymalus species (now Euphorbia) is listed, described and provided with synonyms and references. Bauhin already used binomial names but did not consistently give all species throughout the work binomials.

Karl Heinrich Emil Koch
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Karl Heinrich Emil Koch was a German botanist. He is best known for his explorations in the Caucasus region. Most of his collections have today been lost and he is also known as the first professional horticultural officer in Germany. He was born in Ettersburg near Weimar, Germany and he studied at the universities of Jena and Würzburg and taught,

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Karl Heinrich Emil Koch

Food energy
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Food energy is chemical energy that animals derive from food and molecular oxygen through the process of cellular respiration. Humans and other animals need a minimum intake of energy to sustain their metabolism. Foods are composed chiefly of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, alcohol, water, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, alcohol, and water

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The nutritional information label on a pack of Basmati rice in the United Kingdom

Carbohydrate
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A carbohydrate is a biological molecule consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2,1, in other words, with the empirical formula Cmn. This formula holds true for monosaccharides, some exceptions exist, for example, deoxyribose, a sugar component of DNA, has the empirical formula C5H10O4. Carbohyd

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Grain products: rich sources of carbohydrates

Sugar
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Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose, fructose, the table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Sugar is

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Closeup of raw (unrefined, unbleached) sugar

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Ant feeding on sugar crystals.

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Sugar cane plantation

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Still-Life with Bread and Confectionary, by George Flegel, first half of 17th century

Dietary fiber
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Dietary fiber or roughage is the indigestible portion of food derived from plants. It has two components, Soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts. It delays gastric emptying which in turn can cause a feeling of fullness. Insoluble fiber, which does not dissolve in w

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Legumes contain healthy dietary fibers.

Fat
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Fat is one of the three main macronutrients, along with carbohydrate and protein. Fats, also known as triglycerides, are esters of three fatty acid chains and the alcohol glycerol, the terms oil, fat, and lipid are often confused. Oil normally refers to a fat with short or unsaturated fatty acid chains that is liquid at room temperature, lipid is t

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The obese mouse on the left has large stores of adipose tissue. For comparison, a mouse with a normal amount of adipose tissue is shown on the right.

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A fat, or triglyceride, molecule. Note the three fatty acid chains attached to the central glycerol portion of the molecule.

Protein (nutrient)
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Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body. They are one of the blocks of body tissue. As a fuel, proteins provide as much energy density as carbohydrates,4 kcal per gram, in contrast, the most important aspect and defining characteristic of protein from a nutritional standpoint is its amino acid composition. Proteins are polymer chains ma

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Protein milkshakes, made from protein powder (center) and milk (left), are a common bodybuilding supplement.

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Amino acids are the building blocks of protein.

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An education campaign launched by the United States Department of Agriculture about 100 years ago, on cottage cheese as a lower-cost protein substitute for meat.

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A child in Nigeria during the Biafra War suffering from kwashiorkor – one of the three protein energy malnutrition ailments afflicting over 10 million children in developing countries.

Vitamin
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A vitamin is an organic compound and a vital nutrient that an organism requires in limited amounts. For example, ascorbic acid is a vitamin for humans, supplementation is important for the treatment of certain health problems, but there is little evidence of nutritional benefit when used by otherwise healthy people. Thirteen vitamins are universall

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The Ancient Egyptians knew that feeding a person liver would help cure night blindness.

Vitamin A
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Vitamin A is a group of unsaturated nutritional organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids. Vitamin A has multiple functions, it is important for growth and development, for the maintenance of the immune system and good vision. Vitamin A is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of ret

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carrots

Beta-Carotene
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β-Carotene is an organic, strongly colored red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. It is a member of the carotenes, which are terpenoids, synthesized biochemically from eight isoprene units, among the carotenes, β-carotene is distinguished by having beta-rings at both ends of the molecule. β-Carotene is biosynthesized from geranylgeranyl

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β-Carotene

Lutein
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Lutein is a xanthophyll and one of 600 known naturally occurring carotenoids. Lutein is synthesized only by plants and like other xanthophylls is found in quantities in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale. See xanthophyll cycle for this topic, Lutein is obtained by animals directly or indirectly, from plants. Lutein is apparently employed

Zeaxanthin
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Zeaxanthin is one of the most common carotenoid alcohols found in nature. It is important in the xanthophyll cycle, synthesized in plants and some micro-organisms, it is the pigment that gives paprika, corn, saffron, wolfberries, and many other plants and microbes their characteristic color. The name is derived from Zea mays, plus xanthos, the Gree

Folate
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Folic acid, another form of which is known as folate, is one of the B vitamins. The recommended daily level of folate is 400 micrograms from foods or dietary supplements. Folic acid is used to treat anemia caused by folic acid deficiency and it is also used as a supplement by women during pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects in the baby. Low le

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Folic acid

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Vitamins C and M as featured on a monument in front of University of Warsaw 's Centre of New Technologies

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In the USA many grain products are fortified with folic acid.

Choline
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Choline is a water-soluble vitamin-like essential nutrient. The term cholines refers to the class of quaternary ammonium salts containing the N, N, the cation appears in the head groups of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, two classes of phospholipid that are abundant in cell membranes. Choline is the molecule for the neurotransmitter acetylch

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Choline

Vitamin C
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Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid, is a vitamin found in food and used as a dietary supplement. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent scurvy, evidence does not support use in the general population for the prevention of the common cold. It may be taken by mouth or by injection, large doses may cause gastrointestin

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Rose hips are a particularly rich source of vitamin C

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Vitamin C

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Goats, like almost all animals, make their own vitamin C. An adult goat, weighing approx. 70 kg, will manufacture more than 13,000 mg of vitamin C per day in normal health, and levels manyfold higher when faced with stress.

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James Lind, a British Royal Navy surgeon who, in 1747, identified that a quality in fruit prevented the disease of scurvy in what was the first recorded controlled experiment.

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A domestic-quality one-kilogram weight made of cast iron (the credit card is for scale). The shape follows OIML recommendation R52 for cast-iron hexagonal weights

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Measurement of weight – gravitational attraction of the measurand causes a distortion of the spring

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Measurement of mass – the gravitational force on the measurand is balanced against the gravitational force on the weights.

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The Arago kilogram, an exact copy of the "Kilogramme des Archives" commissioned in 1821 by the US under supervision of French physicist François Arago that served as the US's first kilogram standard of mass until 1889, when the US converted to primary metric standards and received its current kilogram prototypes, K4 and K20.

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One of the largest taro growing areas in the Hawaiian Islands is on Kauaʻi, in the Lower Hanalei Valley

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Several small lo ʻ i or pondfields in which kalo (or taro) is being grown in the Maunawili Valley on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. The ditch on the left in the picture is called an ʻ auwai and supplies diverted stream water to the lo ʻ i.

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A representation of the 3D structure of the protein myoglobin showing turquoise alpha helices. This protein was the first to have its structure solved by X-ray crystallography. Towards the right-center among the coils, a prosthetic group called a heme group (shown in gray) with a bound oxygen molecule (red).